Picasa Web Album

In class we went on a picture scavenger hunt. My group was looking for colors. We walked around campus and took pictures of all the different colors on our list. We shared pictures using a Picasa web slideshow and a Google presentation. The process of uploading and sharing pictures was fairly simple. I had never used either Picasa Web Albums or Google Presentation, so it took a little bit of getting used to and exploring to figure it out. Google Presentation was especially easy to learn to use because it is just like PowerPoint which I am very familiar with. The one problem I had was when I embedded it in my blog my teacher could not see it. So next time I would make sure and remember to change who can see it off of the private setting.
Both Picasa Web Albums and Google Presentation would be very useful in the classroom. If students were old enough and had computer skills, we could do a similar activity where they took pictures on a scavenger hunt, and then shared them. For younger students, teachers can make slideshows and web albums of concepts and lessons and use them while teaching. Having pictures as visual aids to accompany lessons could make it more interesting for students and allow them to see concepts in "real life."
I will definitely use both Picasa Web Albums and Google Presentations in my classroom.